The A-to-Z of Yeovil's History

by Bob Osborn

yeovil
at War

William George
Sartin

Shoeing &
Carriage Smith
in the Royal
Engineers

William
George Sartin
was born in
Yeovil in 1890,
the son of
Company Sergeant
Major William
John Nicholas
Sartin and
Dinah Rose.
William was in the
Royal Engineers
and consequently
the family moved
around quite a
bit with his
regular
postings.
William and
Dinah's next
two children,
Albert (b 1893)
and Kate (b
1895) were both
born in
Gravesend, Kent,
while the next
three children,
Annie (b 1896),
George (b 1898)
and Charles (b
1900) were all
born in Chatham,
Kent. In 1900
the family moved
to Monmouth,
Wales, where son
Richard was born
in 1900. The
1901 census
listed the
family at Derwen
Cottage, Waterly
Lane, Monmouth.

As a
sidenote:
William John
Nicholas Sartin
was the son of
John Sartin once
landlord of the
Globe Inn,
Park Street
and brother of
Edward Sartin
also landlord of
the Globe Inn,
while Dinah Rose
was the daughter
of George Rose
once landlord of
the
Swan Inn,
Park Street.

William
Junior clearly
enjoyed the
military life
and, like his
father, he too
joined the Royal
Engineers,
enlisting at
Monmouth -
probably when he
turned 18 in
1908. In the
1911 census
21-year old
William was
listed as a
Sapper in the
Royal Engineers
with the trade
of Shoeing
Smith. He was in
the Army's
Connaught
Hospital,
Marlborough
Line, Aldershot.

William
was in the 23rd
Field Company of
the Royal
Engineers
(Service No
18363) and by
the time war
broke out he was
a full Corporal
with the trade
of Shoeing and
Carriage Smith.
The 23rd Field
Company, Royal
Engineers served
with 1st
Division during
the Great War.
1st Division was
one of the first
British
formations to
proceed to
France in August
1914, and fought
on the Western
Front throughout
the war, taking
part in most of
the major
actions. In 1914
they were
involved in The
Battle of Mons
and the
subsequent
retreat, The
Battle of the
Marne, The
Battle of the
Aisne and the
First Battle of
Ypres. William
would have been
in all these
battles.

The Battle of
Mons (23 August
1914) was the
first major
action of the
British
Expeditionary
Force (BEF) in
the war. It was
a subsidiary
action of the
Battle of the
Frontiers, in
which the Allies
clashed with
Germany on the
French borders.
At Mons, the
British Army
attempted to
hold the line of
the Mons–Condé
Canal against
the advancing
German 1st Army.
Although the
British fought
well and
inflicted
disproportionate
casualties on
the numerically
superior
Germans, they
were eventually
forced to
retreat due both
to the greater
strength of the
Germans and the
sudden retreat
of the French
Fifth Army,
which exposed
the British
right flank.

The First Battle
of the Marne
(5–12 September
1914) resulted
in an Allied
victory against
the German Army.
The battle was
the culmination
of the German
advance into
France and
pursuit of the
Allied armies
which followed
the Battle of
the Frontiers in
August, which
had reached the
eastern
outskirts of
Paris. The
counterattack of
six French field
armies and the
BEF along the
Marne River
forced the
German Imperial
Army to abandon
its push on
Paris and
retreat
north-west,
leading to the
"Race to the
Sea". The Battle
of the Marne was
a victory for
the Allies and
set the stage
for four years
of trench
warfare on the
Western Front.

The First Battle
of the Aisne
(13–28 September
1914) was the
Allied follow-up
offensive
against the
right wing of
the German First
Army (led by
Alexander von
Kluck) and the
Second Army (led
by Karl von
Bülow) as they
retreated after
the First Battle
of the Marne.
The offensive
began on the
evening of 13
September, after
a hasty pursuit
of the Germans.

The
First Battle of
Ypres, also
called the First
Battle of
Flanders (19
October – 22
November 1914),
was a First
World War battle
fought for the
strategically
important town
of Ypres in
western Belgium
in October and
November 1914.
Sadly William
was wounded in
the battle and
died from his
wounds on 2
November 1914.
He was 24.

For his service
in France he was
awarded the 1914
Star. The 1914
Star, the
British War
Medal and the
Victory Medal
were commonly
known as 'Pip,
Squeak and
Wilfred' and
were the three
most common
medals of the
Great War. The
1914 Star, known
as 'Pip' was a
bronze medal,
about 378,000
were issued to
those who served
in France or
Belgium between
5 August and 22
November 1914.
Mainly Regulars
or Territorials,
a few land based
Navy, and a few
Australian and
Canadians were
the recipients.
The central
scroll carries
the dates for
the 1914 Star.

William Sartin
is remembered on
Panel 9 of the
Ypres (Menin
Gate) Memorial
at Leper,
West-Vlaanderen,
Belgium. His
name was added
to the
War Memorial
in the
Borough in
2018.

gallery

William Sartin's
Medal Index Card
showing that he
was awarded the
1914 Star and
Clasp on 15
August 1914. By
this time
William was a
full Corporal

British infantry
waiting to
advance in the
Mons area prior
to the battle.

The
Commonwealth
War Graves
Commission
certificate
in memory of
William
Sartin.

Ypres (Menin
Gate)
Memorial,
West-Vlaanderen,
Belgium

The Menin
Gate is one
of four
memorials to
the missing
in Belgian
Flanders
which cover
the area
known as the
Ypres
Salient.
Broadly
speaking,
the Salient
stretched
from
Langemarck
in the north
to the
northern
edge in
Ploegsteert
Wood in the
south, but
it varied in
area and
shape
throughout
the war. The
Salient was
formed
during the
First Battle
of Ypres in
October and
November
1914, when a
small
British
Expeditionary
Force
succeeded in
securing the
town before
the onset of
winter,
pushing the
German
forces back
to the
Passchendaele
Ridge. The
Second
Battle of
Ypres began
in April
1915 when
the Germans
released
poison gas
into the
Allied lines
north of
Ypres. This
was the
first time
gas had been
used by
either side
and the
violence of
the attack
forced an
Allied
withdrawal
and a
shortening
of the line
of defence.

The site of
the Menin
Gate was
chosen
because of
the hundreds
of thousands
of men who
passed
through it
on their way
to the
battlefields.
It
commemorates
casualties
from the
forces of
Australia,
Canada,
India, South
Africa and
United
Kingdom who
died in the
Salient. In
the case of
United
Kingdom
casualties,
only those
prior 16
August 1917.
It now bears
the names of
more than
54,000
officers and
men whose
graves are
not known.
The Ypres
(Menin gate)
Memorial,
designed by
Sir Reginald
Blomfield
with
sculpture by
Sir William
Reid-Dick,
was unveiled
by Lord
Plumer on 24
July 1927.

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themes

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